June 10, 2012

Stephen Hawking has said: "We should look for evidence of a collision with another universe in our distant Past." Some experts believe that what we call the universe may only be one of many. Is there any conceivable way that we could ever detect and study other universes if they exist? Is it even falsifiable?

This was a key question Hawking was was asked in an interview with the BBC. "Our best bet for a theory of everything is M-theory --an extension of string theory," Hawking continued. "One prediction of M-theory is that there are many different universes, with different values for the physical constants. This might explain why the physical constants we measure seem fine-tuned to the values required for life to exist."

It is no surprise that we observe the physical constants to be finely-tuned. If they weren't, we wouldn't be here to observe them. One way of testing the theory that we may be one of many universes would be to look for features in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) which would indicate the collision of another universe with ours in the distant past.

The circular patterns within the cosmic microwave background shown above suggest that space and time did not come into being at the Big Bang but that our universe in fact continually cycles through a series of "aeons," according to University of Oxford theoretical physicist Roger Penrose, who says that data collected by NASA's WMAP satellite supports his idea of "conformal cyclic cosmology".

Penrose made the sensational claim that he had glimpsed a signal originating from before the Big Bang working with Vahe Gurzadyn of the Yerevan Physics Institute in Armenia. Penrose came to this conclusion after analyzing maps from the Wilkinson Anisotropy Probe.

These maps reveal the cosmic microwave background, believed to have been created just 300,000 years after the Big Bang and offering clues to the conditions at that time. Penrose's finding runs directly counter to the widely accepted inflationary model of cosmology which states that the universe started from a point of infinite density known as the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago, expanded extremely rapidly for a fraction of a second and has continued to expand much more slowly ever since, during which time stars, planets and ultimately humans have emerged.

That expansion is now believed to be accelerating due to a scientific X factor called dark energy and is expected to result in a cold, uniform, featureless universe. Penrose, however, reports Physics World, takes issue with the inflationary picture "and in particular believes it cannot account for the very low entropy state in which the universe was believed to have been born  an extremely high degree of order that made complex matter possible. He does not believe that space and time came into existence at the moment of the Big Bang but that the Big Bang was in fact just one in a series of many, with each big bang marking the start of a new "aeon" in the history of the universe."

The core concept in Penrose's theory is the idea that in the very distant future the universe will in one sense become very similar to how it was at the Big Bang. Penrose says that "at these points the shape, or geometry, of the universe was and will be very smooth, in contrast to its current very jagged form. This continuity of shape, he maintains, will allow a transition from the end of the current aeon, when the universe will have expanded to become infinitely large, to the start of the next, when it once again becomes infinitesimally small and explodes outwards from the next big bang.

Crucially, he says, the entropy at this transition stage will be extremely low, because black holes, which destroy all information that they suck in, evaporate as the universe expands and in so doing remove entropy from the universe."

The foundation for Penrose's theory is found in the cosmic microwave background, the all-pervasive microwave radiation that was believed to have been created when the universe was just 300,000 years old and which tells us what conditions were like at that time. The evidence was obtained by Vahe Gurzadyan of the Yerevan Physics Institute in Armenia, who analysed seven years' worth of microwave data from WMAP, as well as data from the BOOMERanG balloon experiment in Antarctica.

Penrose and Gurzadyan say they have clearly identified concentric circles within the data  regions in the microwave sky in which the range of the radiation's temperature is markedly smaller than elsewhere. The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation is the remnant heat from the Big Bang. This radiation pervades the universe and, if we could see in microwaves, it would appear as a nearly uniform glow across the entire sky.

However, when we measure this radiation very carefully we can discern extremely faint variations in the brightness from point to point across the sky, called "anisotropy". These variations encode a great deal of information about the properties of our universe, such as its age and content. The "Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe" (WMAP) mission has measured these variations and found that the universe is 13.7 billion years old, and it consists of 4.6% atoms, 23% dark matter, and 72% dark energy.

According to Penrose and Gurzadyan, as described in arXiv: 1011.3706, these circles allow us to "see through" the Big Bang into the aeon that would have existed beforehand. They are the visible signature left in our aeon by the spherical ripples of gravitational waves that were generated when black holes collided in the previous aeon.

The "Penrose circles" pose a huge challenge to inflationary theory because this theory says that the distribution of temperature variations across the sky should be Gaussian, or random, rather than having discernable structures within it.

Julian Barbour, a visiting professor of physics at the University of Oxford in an interview with Physics World, says that these circles would be "remarkable if real and sensational if they confirm Penrose's theory". They would "overthrow the standard inflationary picture", which, he adds, has become widely accepted as scientific fact by many cosmologists. But he believes that the result will be "very controversial" and that other researchers will look at the data very critically. He says there are many disputable aspects to the theory, including the abrupt shift of scale between aeons and the assumption, central to the theory, that all particles will become massless in the very distant future.

He points out, for example, that there is no evidence that electrons decay. Penrose and colleague Gurzadyn have answered the numerous critics who say that the circles do not contradict the standard model of cosmology in follow up paper, published on arXiv. In the short article, they agree that the presence of circles in the CMB does not contradict the standard model of cosmology.

However, the existence of concentric families of circles, they argue, cannot be explained as a purely random effect given the pure Gaussian nature of their original analysis. It is, however a clear prediction of conformal cyclic cosmology, reports Physics World.

Do these concentric circles shown below offer a glimpse of before the Big Bang? What do you think?

The circular patterns within the cosmic microwave background shown above suggest that space and time did not come into being at the Big Bang but that our universe in fact continually cycles through a series of "aeons," according to University of Oxford theoretical physicist Roger Penrose, who says that data collected by NASA's WMAP satellite supports his idea of "conformal cyclic cosmology".

Interesting. So how did the first cycle of "aeons" start?

4
posted on 06/12/2012 5:15:44 AM PDT
by ILS21R
(John Locke: When the social contract is broken, the people must revolt.)

Since IMHO, there never was a “big bang,” if these images are legit, they can only be shadowy vestiges of Creation as it was right after God SPOKE IT INTO EXISTENCE, and prior to Adam’s rebellion and the subsequent curse.
This present world which is so beautiful even under the curse, can’t hold a candle to what it was before the Fall; nor how glorious it will be when its restoration is complete.
The Second Epistle of Peter, Chapter 3 will explain what I mean.

10
posted on 06/12/2012 5:34:10 AM PDT
by Tucker39
( Psa 68:19Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits; even the God of our salvation.KJV)

Really interesting theories from the often brilliant minds of the expert theorists. When they proclaim there is no God of all this intelligent design it baffles the mind and diminishes their expertise IMHO.

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries”.

Robert Jastrow, “God and the Astronomers”:

17
posted on 06/12/2012 6:19:17 AM PDT
by dagogo redux
(A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)

The "Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe" (WMAP) mission has measured these variations and found that the universe is 13.7 billion years old, and it consists of 4.6% atoms, 23% dark matter, and 72% dark energy.

Yeah, theres a whole lot missing in this explanation the author provided.

Here's the reason for the microwave circles: When the Big Bang happened, the gravity well was incredibly deep and steep. As it was about to 'go', it pulsated energy, like a smoke blowing smoke rings. These 'rings' of microwave energy are the ticking time bomb........

im with you Tucker......these so-called brilliant minds, spend years doing intellectual somersaults to come up with something, anything that points away from the obvious implications of ‘fine tuning’, like hawking notes, to yet more bizarre humanist nonsense.....

I didn’t mention this in my first reply because I feel truly sorry for the poor guy.....

I think Stephan Hawking with his severe physical impairments is mad at God for his being born with impairments and having to live the way he does. It’s a shame, too, because if he correctly played “the hand” he’s been dealt he could at least have a happy outcome later on.

Think of Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, but who still worshipped God and held no bitterness for her birth defects. Or Fanny Crosby, who also was blind, but who loved God, praised Jesus as her Savior and wrote many hundreds of gospel hymns and songs. I anticipate meeting both of these ladies in Heaven some day.

The other side of the coin is little old Stephen Hawking, mad at God; denying Special Creation and dreaming up wild BS scenarios of how the universe may have come into being. And sadly, unlike Keller and Crosby, Hawking is engaged in a spite-filled battle he can’t win....any more than a gnat can win a battle with the grille of a 70 mph Mack truck!

God loves Stephan Hawking every bit as much as he loves you, me or Billy Graham; but if Hawking insists on seeking “revenge” against God, and refusing the full and FREE Salvation God is offering him, he’ll wind up in the lake of fire along with all the other foolish individuals who stiff-armed God, no matter what their imagined “case” against Him.

The best thing Hawking could do is to retain a good “attorney”.....

1st Timothy 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1st Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1st Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1st Timothy 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all.....

Stevie needs to latch onto that omnipotent mediator mentioned in verse 5, who can save his soul, give him joy and serenity in spite of his present difficulties, a la Joni Earickson Tata; and in a few short years, give him a perfect glorified body for all eternity, just like Christ had when He walked out of the tomb on that first Easter morning.

It’s either that....or the lake of fire....and it is purely Hawking’s choice. Seems like a no-brainer, to me!

36
posted on 06/13/2012 5:03:38 PM PDT
by Tucker39
( Psa 68:19Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits; even the God of our salvation.KJV)

"One prediction of M-theory is that there are many different universes, with different values for the physical constants. This might explain why the physical constants we measure seem fine-tuned to the values required for life to exist."

That said, the picture looks like strangely like a bulls-eye...God with a sense of humor?

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